A friend and former colleague posted this on Facebook.
It’s beautiful and sentimental; theological but has become a cliché. Don’t get me wrong. I draw great comfort and truth from it. I just think we see the “no more tears” and miss the depth there.
First, this is not the heaven we are in when we pass from this life. It is the new heaven and the new earth, after a time of judgment and tribulation (and millennial rule, but there are differences of opinion on all that). Second, this is a metaphor for something as well as literal. And third, I wonder if we sometimes see this as comforting but a little boring.
Heaven is a place of not as well as is. It’s a place where a lot of things we endure, expect, deal with, and take for granted ARE NOT and WILL NOT. Are we ready for the “not” of Heaven? And are we ready for the “past” and “passed” of Heaven?
Yet, how can we argue with the image of God wiping away someone’s tears—God touching our faces to say, You don’t need those any more, that is past.
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